The State Senate has launched a new website designed to get public comments on how to reform New York’s campaign finance system. They’ll be using these comments to decide how to move forward on legislation this year.

Citizen Action of New York released a new report today finding that campaign contributions from corporate interests are used to block legislation that would help consumers, tenants, and the environment.

Lea Webb, member of the City Council in Binghamton and Citizen Action organizer, discusses how public financing of elections will allow more people to run for office.

The New York Times is reporting today that in exchange for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo ending his investigation into the Carlyle group’s pension fund contracts, the business has agreed to eliminate the use of placement agents – paid intermediaries who essentially use their high-level relationships to match-make between pension funds and investment firms.
The Carlyle group [...]

Today, New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to require all businesses that donate to elected officials who control public pensions funds from doing any business with that fund for a period of two years after the donation is made.

The current pension fund scandal is exposing the pay-to-play culture that has stifled responsible state politics in Albany for years.
Reporting on the scandal, the New York Times published this detailed account, tracking both the original allegations leveled against former state comptroller Alan Hevesi and his aides, and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s ongoing investigation.
Since [...]

Citizen Action’s Organizing Director, Maurice Mitchell, paid a visit to the Ft. Orange club in Albany.
The club represents a huge problem with New York’s current campaign finance system. Almost every night when the legislature is in town, political fundraisers are held at fancy clubs and restaurants like this one.

The current pension fund scandal is shedding light on the consequences of the pay-to-play culture existing within our state government.

The Utica Observer-Dispatch printed their second editorial in as many months about campaign finance reform today. In their first editorial, the OD wrote about the merits of a public financing of elections system:

A 2006 memo from the Public Policy and Education Fund of New York concluded that the cost of public financing of elections in New York would amount to, “less than 2 hundredths of a percent,” of the state budget and, “should not be a concern.”